This wonderful bloom was reported as having been dug up in the following way
I am contacting you & your Society as probably interested persons, to inform you of illegal activity which has occurred at the Coryton roundabout Cardiff.
I have been studying our native orchids for over 30 years & have visited many sites all over the UK. It was already known to me that an unusual form of the Common Spotted orchid (var rhodochila) occurred at the Coryton roundabout & this year after a trip to the Kenfig NNR on June 24th with 4 other naturalists, we stopped at Coryton on the return journey & found amongst the many normal Common Spotted & hybrid orchids, 2 beautiful specimens of var. rhodochila. One was fully out & the other which was the best specimen was just opening. I have seen var. rhodochila in Somerset,Wiltshire,Hampshire & Kent but this partly opened specimen at Coryton was the best I have ever seen.
I returned yesterday (1st July) to obtain photographs of this plant at its best & was devastated to see that both plants had been dug up. The selfish person who has done this has denied genuine naturalists the opportunity to see these beautiful plants possibly forever at this site & they will probably die off if the roots have been damaged.
Hoping that some plants may return one day.Since that communication we have been in touch with the council and the traffic wales group and there are no cameras covering the site so the police have no evidence to take action upon
Please if you hear anything get in touch and we can (in confidence if needed) pass on any information
Regards
Andy
I'm shocked by this, presumably as not a protected species the only way of prosecuting would be through thieft legislation?
ReplyDeleteThanks for this - we were shocked as well. We have been in touch with the relevant authorities. There is an offence under Section 13 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 of uprooting a wild plant growing wild on any land. The problem we have is obviously linking an offender to the offence and a two week time lapse. Unless there is any evidence from e.g. CCTV or other information then it is unlikely that this will go anywhere.
ReplyDeleteWe're hoping to publicise the removal further in the hope that at the very least others are made aware of the problem and may be on the lookout to make it harder for someone in the future
Regards
Andy